The Daily Goodbye

Good morning, and a pie in the face to you. Comedian Soupy Sales has died.

Gilbert Novotny's stainless steel artificial aortic valve lasted 36 years, which is pretty good for a mechanical device. He was only the second person to get one and he died at age 95.

Who hasn't put one dream aside for another? It all worked out for Bernard D'Ascenzo, who became one of the best jewelry designers in the U.S., but who never completely forgot the lure of architecture. "Even today, when I visit New York, those beautiful, majestic buildings always take me back to my younger days and dreams that someday I may design the next Empire State Building," he said recently. "At the same time, after 50 years in this industry, my mind still thrives on creating better and more beautiful jewelry - the same way it had back then."

One of the talented codebreakers who decrypted the German Enigma code during World War II has died. Shaun Wylie worked with Alan Turing and became head of the "crib" subsection, which was on the lookout for repeated words or phrases in German messages.

I'm still fooling around with our new blog layout and have been putting Washington Post-written obits in the upper left corner of this page, for the time being.

Finally, to cheer your end of the week, take a look at this video tribute to Soupy Sales: